Interzone Athletics
Well done to everyone who competed in the Interzone Athletics last Friday — you all represented our school with pride and excellent sportsmanship! A massive thank you to the parents who helped transport our students to and from the event.
Fun Run event on Friday 14 November
Thank you to all those families who came along on Friday 14 to support our Fun Run event. It was a beautiful afternoon of being together as a community and the students all participated with great enthusiasm and resilience - a couple of children did 5 laps!!
Great Things Going On!
On Friday our weary, happy Kahikatea campers returned from a wonderful three days at Brookfields Scout camp with some wonderful, energetic and organised parent helpers and our dedicated kaiako. A special thanks goes to Beverley Warwick - teacher in charge - for all her organisation leading up to the camp and to Nadine Dechapunya for supporting her so well. It was wonderful to have others from external agencies who work regularly with our children there (including Constable Aaron Dann and Sue Campbell Learning Support Coordinator) supporting the students. I personally thoroughly enjoyed my last opportunity to get wet and muddy with the kayaks (and the ducks!) with this fabulous group of young people.
On Monday we had a wonderful morning of ‘giving back’ with the Wellington Breeze ‘Pack the Bus’ visit and everyone feeling very festive and yesterday Rīmu/Tōtara were enjoying Pukehuia Park.
The work on Phase 2 of the Senior Playground development has begun too. We anticipate this to take a couple of weeks, but the timing will mean there is not an opportunity to have a proper opening this side of Christmas. The main thing is that the students whose ideas went into this development will have an opportunity (albeit brief!) to enjoy it before they move on to Intermediate!
Also on the playground theme, our new little whare (house) in the Junior school is all set to have its roof put on and some painting by the students over the next couple of weeks. The roof is courtesy of Element Roofing who have provided the materials free of charge for us.
We will be holding a small, low key opening for the little whare on Friday 12th December at 2pm. Our junior school is invited to this only as the whare is largely for them (and due to balancing this with the Dojo acknowledgment that is happening for other areas of the school at the same time - must be December!). The students from Newlands College who created the whare will be joining us so we can thank them. If you are available, please feel free to join us on the top playground at 2pm on the 12th.
And there is more to come;
Next Wednesday Kelly Club are putting on a morning tea for the school staff,Thursday is our final Hub Leaders ‘Morning Tea with the Principal’ for 2026 and, on Friday, we will be thanking all our helpers who can make it (just a tiny portion of all those who support our school!) at our ‘Helpers Morning Tea,’ as well as holding Kahikatea’s Carnival day.
You can expect our final newsletter for the term on 10th December with updates on all of this and further information for the final week of the term.
Three Way Conferences and Bellevue Poutama (Blue Progress Stairway)
Our teaching team is busy completing reporting posts on Seesaw, preparing for next week’s three way conferences and wrapping up all the end of year assessments.
Please book in for a conference if you have not already done so - bookings will close at 9am on Wednesday 3 December. Following this you will need to contact the office to organise a time.:
Wednesday 3 December (3.15 - 8.15pm), Thursday 4 December (3.15 - 6.15pm).
Follow this link to School Interviews look for the ‘Make a Booking’ button top right, and enter the code wyb3c
The Poutama (Blue Progress Stairway)
These are posted to Seesaw following a conversation with families, and therefore after next week’s three way conferences. Teachers will post these at various times between your child’s three way conference and the 12 December - the end of the following week so do not be concerned if you have two children at the school and they are posted at different times.
Staff News
At the end of this term, we farewell several of our wonderful teacher aides who have supported us in 2026. Sarah Chung and Anrike Bornman have both been studying Educational Psychology during their tenure at Bellevue and so are moving on to pursue further study or career opportunities. Ethan de Boer who has supported our students in Rīmu/Tōtara is also moving on to his next adventure. All of these members of our team have brought their diverse skills and talents to making Bellevue a safe and supportive environment for our tamariki (children). We have loved working alongside them and, while they will be greatly missed, we wish them every success in their future endeavours.
Acknowledgement
A previous newsletter talks about the highly successful performance of our tamariki (children) in the Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Kapa Haka Festival at Newlands Intermediate. Instrumental in both preparing the students for this day as well as in the pōwhiri to welcome our cluster schools to the intermediate was Nathaniel Daley. Nat is a skilled kaiāwhina in our kura who has worked in an ongoing way with the Kapa Haka group and its kaiako. He is also our whakōrero speaker for pōwhiri and has set a wonderful example of courage and resilience for us all in this role. I would like to acknowledge Nat’s work in our school as he was missed in this original communication.
Education Act Changes - Te Tiriti o Waitangi
You may be aware there is a strong response across our kura in New Zealand about the removal of the legal requirement for Boards to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
In Newlands, we are a strong, collaborative community of schools who have worked closely together to learn from our communities, and each other, to strengthen the ways in which we uphold Te Tiriti. It has long been a part of our collective schools strategic planning as well as a foundation for each individual school’s plans.
Although there is much work to do in this space, we are also proud of our journey so far and excited to continue it. This is largely because of the difference it makes for all our learners - especially in creating a sense of belonging, of community and an understanding of our bicultural nation, a nation in which many cultures can thrive.
The Te Korowai ō Horokiwi Cluster School Boards sent THIS OPEN LETTER to Minister Stanford yesterday, not as a political act, but as a statement of our intent to continue to do what we know works for the children in our schools.
Principal Appointment and School Structure Term 1
In the last newsletter THIS DOCUMENT went out stating that Annette is the Principal in Term 1 2026 - that is in error! This was intended to give an overview of the placement of teachers for 2026 as an overall year - in that, it is correct.
The Principal Recruitment process is well underway at present, with consultation complete and applications out to interested candidates. The Board will be interviewing early in 2026 with the aim of having Bellevue’s new Principal on board by the start of Term 2.
During Term 1, the school will be managed by the existing leadership team. Deeann Daniels (our existing Deputy Principal Year 4-6) has been appointed Acting Principal for Term 1 to see the school through a smooth transition. This will leave a vacancy for an Acting Deputy Principal. Megan Walters (who will be the Year 4-6 Hub Coach in 2026) will act up in the role of Deputy Principal, Year 4-6, for Term 1 and Anneke McLean will be the whānau teacher of the Year 4/5 class for the duration of Term 1 while Megan fulfills this role.
If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any member of our leadership team.
Principal Farewell Assembly
On Wednesday 17 December at 2pm the school will be holding a small farewell assembly for me as exiting Principal. We would like to be able to invite our community to this, but, as you are aware our hall does not have capacity for all of our children, teachers and any whānau who may like to attend. In an effort to work around this, the plan is to hold the assembly outdoors if it is fine (do bring a hat, water and cover up if it is baking!). If it is not, and we have to hold this indoors, there will be tea and coffee available at the hall 3pm for anyone who might like to swing by for a few minutes to catch me at pick up time.
Parent Donations and Activity Fees for 2026
The Bellevue Board is aware of the increased cost of living and the impact of this on some of our families. We are pleased to confirm that for the 2026 year the parent donations will remain at the current 2025 rate of $140 for one child or $220 for a family. This is the third year that this has remained constant.
The Activity Fee has also remained at the same level for more than three years $15 per pupil per term. With the rising costs of buses, visiting experts and all activities we are going to increase this in 2026 to cover the activities the students are able to access at school. The Activity Fee for 2026 will be $20 per student, per term or $80 for the year. This is in line with our other local schools. Thank you for your support in providing exciting learning opportunities for our students.
Attendance Target and Attendance Management Plan for 2026
From Term 1 2026, all state and state-integrated schools in New Zealand are required to implement an Attendance Management Plan. These plans aim to improve student attendance by providing clear pathways to identify and address absences. Our full attendance management plan is HERE and will be published on our website before the end of the year, ready for implementation in 2026. A summary of the key points is here:
Bellevue Attendance Management Summary Sheet
Swimming Payments:
As mentioned previously in the newsletter, swimming lessons are included annually at Bellevue in response to the requests of our community in the biannual Health & PE survey. There are only two more weeks of the Year 1 & 2 (Mānuka & Nīkau) swimming lessons this year.
This is an important, even life saving, part of the curriculum which the students enjoy and which we offer happily. We thank those members of our community who have already paid, and we include the figures below in the hopes of reminding those who have yet to organise payment with the school. Thank you for your support in providing this important opportunity for our students.
Kahikatea 82% paid
Rimu/Tōtara 76% paid
Rata 93% paid
Nīkau 67% paid
Mānuka 49% paid
Asbestos in Sand
As you are aware, fortunately this news has not been too difficult for Bellevue, however we are aware that there may be families who have used coloured sand they are concerned about at home. These links may be helpful:
Asbestos in sand – Health advice for households – Ministry of Health – YouTube
Supplier contact details
For health concerns: Healthline 0800 611 116
For questions regarding workplace disposal: WorkSafe 0800 030 040 (available over the weekend)
For public recalls: Product Safety 0508 426 678
For advice for schools and early childhood education centres: contact us on 0800 323 323 8am-5pm Monday – Friday or A/H email: temahau.response@education.govt.nz.
Reminders Only -
A reminder with reporting all online now that Seesaw post captions can be translated. If a note, caption, comment, announcement, or message is written in a language that is different from the language of a family's device, a 'Translate with Google' option appears below the post. If you are a family who would find this useful and need some assistance, please get in touch with our e-Learning lead teacher nic@bellevue-newlands.school.nz, or with your child's whānau class teacher.
Annual Plan 2025 - Your Feedback : Our Annual Plan for 2025 is HERE. The results of the 2026 community survey are HERE
End of Year Report PDF and 2026 Class Placement Information
A ‘cheat sheet’ on how to download a PDF of your child’s reporting for 2026 will come home via Seesaw during the week of the Three Way Conferences (1-5 December). All reporting posts except the poutama (the blue stairway) will be uploaded to Seesaw before Monday 1 December. We encourage you to view these so that you are able to refer to this during the three way conferences on the 3rd and 4th of December should you wish. The Bellevue Poutama will be posted to your child’s Seesaw page following your conversation with the teacher at the three way conference.
